1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure is generally directed to child restraint systems, and more particularly to a child restraint system with a chest clip and harness cover arrangement for use on a child seating device such as a child safety seat or car seat.
2. Description of Related Art
Child restraint systems that are integral with a car seat (or other seating device) typically have shoulder straps that run upward along the chest of a seat occupant and over the shoulders to the seat back of the seat. During a vehicle crash, the shoulder straps of a car seat can move laterally relative to the child's shoulders. Such relative movement can sometimes be excessive, which can negatively affect the performance of the child seat restraint system. When the restraint system, and particularly the shoulder straps of the system, maintains a correct position relative to the occupant, containment is improved. This improves the safety characteristics and crash performance of the seat.
It is known in the U.S. to utilize a chest clip to interconnect the two shoulder straps across the chest of a seat occupant. Chest clips are typically slidably adjustable along the shoulder straps. The chest clip helps to hold the shoulder straps in position and maintain lateral spacing, once properly positioned on the child and once the restraint system is properly tensioned. It is also known to use harness covers that are slidably attached to the restraints, one to each of the shoulder straps. Harness covers are typically positioned near or over the top of the shoulder of the seat occupant, sometimes to increase the comfort of the child as well as to assist in retaining the straps on the occupant's shoulders. Harness covers are more commonly used on car seats found outside of the U.S., such as in Europe, where chest clips and the like are not employed. Harness covers can be made from a rubber-like material on at least the surface which contacts the seat occupant, and/or a soft material to provide a cushion between the shoulder straps and the seat occupant. These features are often used to help contain the seat occupant and reduce the likelihood of the shoulder straps slipping off of the shoulders of the seat occupant during use, and particularly during a crash.
Others have tried to address the issue of shoulder strap movement in a restraint harness. In one example, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008/0265653 discloses projections of varying height added to the wearer's side of the straps to help prevent a child's torso from bending forward during an accident.
In another example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,294,183 discloses a shock absorber in the form of a crushable pad with a tether to secure the pad. The pad is added to a restraint harness between the shoulder strap and the shoulder of a wearer. The tether is separable to permit movement of the pad with the wearer in the event of an accident.